I haven’t written a post all week for Our Saint Paul, and yet there was a new post there every day! Like magic a new post (well sorta new—early episodes of Danger Bay repackaged and combined as chapters, but they could just as easily have been new) appeared every day.

There are those who know stuff about blog-building who will tell you that posting every day is important, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. It certainly isn’t for me.

This is not the first time I’ve used a feature found on most blog platforms that allows for timed post deployment. When I have the time, I write my posts and set them to deploy automagically—thus giving me more time during the week to catch up on my blog reading or graphic drawing.

So my question is: Does ActiveRain have this feature? And if not, should ActiveRain have this feature?

Today is not a rerun day: Danger Bay—Episode 80—Port of Saint Paul! The gang is visiting my home town! (HA! Thought you’d escape my shameless blog promotion, huh!)

It’s a fine fall-like 56ºF morning on my back porch here in my beloved old river town of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and I am enjoying my “Danger Bay Collectible” mug of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, French-roast coffee firing up my remaining brain synapses to synapting, as I consider this, my one year anniversary here on the ‘Rain.

Hello Activerainers (September 16, 2006)

I don’t expect to write a lot in this blog, but from time to time, you may expect me to offer an opinion or two about home repairs & maintenance. Opinions I have many—and I’m usually willing to share (folks my age tend to be loooong on opinions, ‘cause we don’t let facts get in our way).

One year ago today that was my first ever post to Active Rain. It seems much longer to me—as if the time I’ve been here should be measured in years not months!

Wow! I was certainly mistaken in that first phrase: “I don’t expect to write a lot in this blog…” After 319 (counting this post) posts, 24 of them featured, 111,956 points (excluding this post), it would seem my ability at prognostication is wanting—or perhaps, my understanding of the addictive quality of blogging was lacking—not to mention competitiveness.

When I began blogging here, Active Rain was a relatively small group of plucky bloggers, and today? Who would have thought there would be more than 48,000 members—no longer a small community by any measure!

A short trip down memory lane:

I haven't displayed those in a while.

It’s been a great ride—and I loved it! But this is my last post to the ‘Rain. The time has come to let an RE professional claim the second spot in Minnesota! I have a new blog-mistress, “Our Saint Paul,” and she is demanding my complete attention!

But I’m not leaving completely, I’ll still stop by to comment, even if it is only by leaving my new “Comment Icon” just to let you know I’m still around and still care about our Gentle Readers!

I have included many of your outside and AR blogs in my blogroll and in my RSS Feedreader—so that I may remain in contact, and I invite you to visit me at Our Saint Paul—you will be warmly received.

Sincerely,

A Complete Episode (no link-click required)!

Happy Labor Day, Gentle Readers! It is a fine Saint Paul, Minnesota morning with the temperature a pleasant 65ºF. I was just thinking that all too soon we’ll be reporting temperatures in degrees below zero [[shudder]]!

Pleasant as the weather is in Saint Paul, we decided to have our chipped & well-used “Codger Collectible (January ’07 Edition) Mugs” of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, Guatemalan-Roast coffee, here in Danger Bay at Silverthorn’s Café instead. We both have a very busy Labor Day in front of us.

As we clumped up on the boardwalk and entered the café, we saw Hiram, Sr. behind the counter, Medlar Farkleberry, and an old geezer (who we haven’t yet met) at the counter.

We headed for our usual table, the one by the front plate-glass window when Hiram called out: “G’mornin’ fellas. Please have a seat here at the counter—it’s too early for me to be traipsing all the way over there.”

“Saving your energy for the morning rush?” Boomer asked as we ambled over to the counter.

“The Sparrow is making her first Voyage from the harbor this morning,” Hiram replied as we sat at the counter between Lar and the strangely familiar looking geezer, “Maggie tells me they have 30 reservations for the trip, so I figured I’d better save my energy for REAL customers.”

“Aww Hiram,” Lar piped up, “That ain’t what ya’ told me when these fellers came in th’ door, You said: ‘Let’s jes see who wins a battle o’wills, me—or that stubborn old man—bet I kin get ‘em ta sit at th’ counter!’ That’s what ya said.”

“Stubborn old man?” the geezer next to me piped up, “Just a short time here and he’s already got you pegged!”

I took a closer look at the geezer (in Minnesota—we don’t generally stare at people we don’t know—part of our passive-aggressive nature) and realized who it was: “M…” I began, but was interrupted by Boomer:

“…Jay! We gave him back that name for his own purposes—remember?”

“The ‘Codger,’ as he is known in these parts,” Hiram said, “used to fish commercially, until 61 was re-routed away from Danger Bay. Used to sell fresh Lake Trout from his shop on the pier, but the realignment of the highway caused his business to dry up. In fact, that’s where you guys have your office now.”

“Yep,” the Codger added, “I left the blog, but kept the keys. I have all the passwords (heh-heh), so I can visit whenever I wish, and regale you with my wit & wisdom.”

“But, who drew you?” I asked, taken aback just a little, “You can’t draw worth spit!”

Boomer only smiled.

“OK, there’s only one ex-Codger left,” I thought aloud, “but he says he’s waaay too busy for this stuff anymore.”

“Is this where we meet for the boat trip?” came a voice from the entry…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Gentle Readers, this was a complete episode—brought to you by:

Danger Bay Stories

Danger Bay Graphics (NEW GRAPHICS)

Danger Bay Sets (NEW GRAPHICS) 

and

Farkleberry’s Ship’s Chandlery (Collectible Stuff) 

Please visit us!

Boomer & I are enjoying our chipped & well-used “Codger Collectible (January ’07 Edition) Mugs” of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, Guatemalan-Roast coffee, and enjoying a late summer Saint Paul, Minnesota morning on my back porch.

Yeah, Jay, and your over-sized and totally ripped-off version of my replica “Pruett’s Pig Powders” thermometer tells us the temperature is 65ºF, and I can plainly see that the sky is partly cloudy. And for now, and through Monday, no rain is expected!

This should be a good weekend for the Minnesota State Fair—the harbinger of fall for kids everywhere in the state. Moderate temps, no rain—the place should be packed!

True—for this last week I’ve had to find work-arounds to avoid any of the streets leading to the Fair, Jay. Couple that with the tragic loss of the I35W bridge, and traffic can be miserable.

Around here folks, we don’t wait for mid-September for fall to begin, it begins, conveniently—I think—just when the Fair ends. The kids go back to school, and we start our preparations for our too-long winters, and certainly enjoy the cooler, drier weather of the season.

Thanks for reminding me, Jay—I’ve gotta get the snow-blower fixed.

You’ve had all summer to do that!

Can you spell “p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-e,” Jay?

I can spell it—better yet, though—I sometimes practice it—if I get around to it!

There’s a point somewhere here, for why we are posting this morning, right? Some sort of announcement?

Well, sure—we completed the remodeling of cyber-Ines Hedegus-Garcia’s “Danger Bay” cyber-business! See:

That’s cool, but there was something else. (more)

We completed the update to cyber-Sarah Cooper's General Store:

(This post inspired by Sarah Cooper’s post: “When Did I Grow Up?”)

Although some who know me may disagree, this is NOT a post about failing to mature—but rather—why, oh why, was I more blessed with short genes than with tall genes? At my tallest (we DO shrink a bit with age—a gravity-thing I suspect—I’ve lost a half inch somewhere along the way—and I’d like it back!), I reached a towering 5’6”.

It’s Dad’s fault! He comes from a very looong line of short people, reaching an astounding height of 5’4”! Mom, the shortest of her siblings, was 5’4” as well—not too bad for a woman born in 1911. Her siblings ranged from 5’8” to 6’3”, so there was some height there—but that ability to attain normal height was limited to the children of the sibling’s families—not to us.

There are some real disadvantages to being vertically challenged:

• Having to look up to see down.
• Having to look up to people you really don’t look up to.
• Being patted on the top of your head—as someone’s warped idea of humor.
• Hating Randy Newman.

BUT—there are some real advantages to being vertically challenged:

• Not having to duck nearly as often as normal people.
• Being able to swing my legs while sitting on a curb.
• Being able to comfortably drive almost any car—including really neat sports cars!
• Having less housework to do—if you don’t see it—it don’t matter!
• A six foot long bed is just fine.
• Not experiencing “acrophobia” merely from simply standing up.

Being short is not so bad-eh?

See you—ahem—shortly!

Boomer

This gray Saint Paul morning we find Pruett’s telling us the temperature is a cool 62ºF, and out lens-assisted eyes tell us it’s cloudy. The weather people tell us to expect it to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. High 71ºF. winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph, chance of rain 30%.

We are here on my back porch, savoring our mugs of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, French-Roast coffee. I am, at least, savoring the week to come, ‘though Boomer may be of a differing opinion.

From Boomer’s point of view, this week could have had a miserable start. Over the weekend, MnDOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation) closed down the intersection of MN 280 & I94 to expand the number of traffic lanes for this critical detour around the downed I35W river bridge.

Then came the drought-easing rains—all weekend! This could have prevented the planned reopening of the intersection at 5am this morning. If it didn’t open there would have been a traffic headache of epic proportions. At last word, our MnDOT folks worked through the night after the rain subsided, and the intersection should be open. Who says state workers just lean on their shovels?

Boomer is also, amazingly enough, of fast-tracking necessary improvements—he managed to complete ALL his yard work Friday evening! This allowed us both to work on “Danger Bay” graphics. Some of which (we managed to get ahead of the story a bit) you may see here. This includes the debut of Sarah Cooper, who joins fellow AR luminaries Maggic Dokic & Ines Hegedus-Garcia at Danger Bay.

Well, its back to the drawing board—er—drawing software for me, and off to work (LOL) for Boomer. Have great Monday, and we’ll stop back here from time-to-time today.

This morning as Boomer & I savor the coming weekend, enjoying our mugs of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, Guatemalan-Roast coffee on my, yes my back porch, the temperature in Saint Paul is a delightfully cool 61ºF and the sky is clear. Boomer has the weekend off (as always), and since I march to the beat of my own drummer, so do I.

So how exactly do those of us not involved in the weekend-intensive RE field spend those marvelous 48 hours? Well—excluding our necessary chores—whatever we want!

Boomer has a drought/rain ravaged yard—with the recent rains the weeds have recovered well ahead of the grass—his hedge picked this past week to exhibit a spurt of growth, requiring trimming—a lot of trimming!

So when we have completed the maintenance, we will turn our attention to graphics. I made a commitment to yet another AR luminary to make a caricature for “Danger Bay” (NOTE: no link here). We also have more townspeople to draw, as there is a pending town meeting to discuss the pending “Sparrow Lake Tours” (NOTE: again—no link) operation setting up there.

If you are fortunate enough to have time off this weekend—how will you spend it? Do you set time aside for “you-time,” when you take the time for you (or for family)?

Moving on, I’ll bet based on our last several posts—you are expecting a link. There is none. We HAVE, however, established a link—right there, just to the right of this post, that will bring you directly to the Danger Bay posts where you may see ‘em all (and if you didn’t stop yesterday—there is a new post there). It is at the top of our links, titled, oddly enough, Danger Bay Stories.

Jay & Boomer 

Again in spirit, Boomer & I are enjoying our mugs of  organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, French Roast coffee this morning on the boardwalk of Silverthorn’s Café.

Last Sunday, I decided it was time for Boomer to learn how to do graphics. He, with some reluctance agreed. I asked that he draw a car to add to the tow-truck and old time car I had drawn earlier.

So, he set out to draw his own car. After about four hours of attempting to “get it right,” and some language I dare not repeat, as it may offend the ears of our Gentle Readers, Boomer abruptly stood up from his desk, grabbed his camera went outside and photographed his car.

“You can’t use a jpeg—too much photo shopping involved,” I told him.

“Just watch, y’old coot, I have an idea.” He replied with a smile.

A relatively short two hours later, after cropping the jpeg, dumbing it down and copying it to the Word document, and then outlining the car—viola! A cyber-car was born!

Jay

And the story continues at Danger Bay—Identity revealed!

…yet another “link-post” from Jay & Boomer—

It’s a comfortable 66ºF here on my back porch, after a string of very hot & dry days followed by a couple of severe thunderstorms causing damage around the city. Boomer & I are here in body only, but much as the former “Codger Lodge” would draw me away in spirit at least—so too does Danger Bay!

So, in spirit, Boomer & I are enjoying our mugs of  organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, French Roast coffee this morning on the boardwalk of Silverthorn’s Café. Medlar Farkleberry has just opened his “Star Service” station (full service only, thank you very much), and if you look closely, you’ll barely make out Hiram Silverthorn & sons inside the café.

I’ve resisted the urge to post all weekend, concentrating on my graphics instead and Boomer posted yet another genealogy post to Our Saint Paul. Now this is interesting—his genealogy posts are the only ones that have drawn hits through Google! I noted several hits on Saturday using search terms that identify (probably) gray-hairs looking for information—they (we) are very active doing on-line research (who says the internet is just for young folks?).

So this is yet another blatant attempt to draw you to “Our Saint Paul.” Today we re-introduce you to a “Codger” who has agreed to join the cast of Danger Bay and a brand new character based upon an Active Rainer of fine repute. Wanna know who they are?

There’s but one way to find out (I crack me up)!

“…by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” Mark Twain, as presented by my Blog-Granddaughter.

What has that to do with this post?

As some of you may have noticed, my imagination frequently gets the better of me—which is precisely why I so missed writing the old Codger’s “Cyber series” of posts from “our corner of Cyberspace!” I’ve heard myself described by well-meaning, but imagination-bereft individuals as a touch addle-brained.

What those folks don’t understand, and I only recently came to understand, is imagination-based flights of fantasy are very therapeutic in these times we’re living through. Engaging my imagination—and then writing about it is my way of dragging my thoughts away from my troubles, and when I return to reality, I am refreshed and ready to deal with it.

Earlier this morning, Boomer came to my home (he & Teresa have a house guest and we feared our repartee would awaken her), to work on this post—he had no idea what he was in for:

“Why don’t you go out on the porch,” I said to Boomer, “and get me the official St. Paul temperature for this morning’s post.”

“But ‘Pruett’s” is on my porch,” he protested.

“Doesn’t matter,” I replied, “I bought a thermometer from the hardware store yesterday and mounted it on the porch.”

“Okay,” he said as he went out the door, and then exclaimed “Jay! What have you done?”

Just then…Continued: